Instant Pot Crispy Carnitas

I’ll be the first to admit that I was a little reluctant last year to dive into the craze when everyone started cooking with them. Pressure cookers used to scare the crap out of me growing up, and I didn’t have room in my apartment for any more kitchen appliances, and frankly, I was already perfectly content with my slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté pans, and steamer, thankyouverymuch. But after hearing enough friends rave about their Instant Pots and the 5 million brilliant things that they are able to do, I finally bit the bullet and broke my I-don’t-buy-things-on-Black-Friday resolution and ordered one for half price that day on Amazon. (Ok, and then let’s be honest, promptly stared at it sitting there in my kitchen for about a month. Resistant to change much? ?)

But, once I finally swallowed my pride and geared up my courage to set that knob to “sealing” and give it a try, I could not believe how quickly and how perfectly it cooked so many of my favorite recipes! My favorite slow cooker barbacoa beef, teriyaki chicken, and beef stew all ready to go in less than an hour! My favorite butternut squash soup, lentil soup, and potato soup all ready to go in less than 40 minutes! No-soak beans ready in 45 minutes! Perfectly-cooked rice in 15! Pasta in 8!

All the things! Less time! And so far — perfectly cooked, every time!

As someone who nerds out over efficiency in life, I admit that I’m now 100% sold on this thing. (And recommending it to everyone who asks.) And my favorite recipe thus far that I’ve been recommending to my friends? These incredibly juicy, crispy flavorful, and super-speedy Instant Pot Carnitas.

Instant Pot Carnitas Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Well, really, you can make just about any kind of carnitas with this method (including the ingredients in my traditional Slow Cooker Crispy Carnitas recipe, which I totally love). But lately, I’ve been hooked on cooking with Cuban mojo sauce, which is a yummy (and ultra-easy) marinade made with lots of fresh citrus juice and lots and lots of garlic. Two of my faves.

Simply sear some big chunks of pork in the Instant Pot. (Love its speedy “Saute” setting!) Then pour in your marinade, and set it to pressure cook for 30 minutes on high, and then naturally vent for 15-20 minutes afterwards.

Then once the pork is ready to go, give it a good shred with two forks.

Then — my favorite tip for any sort of slow-cooked (or pressure-cooked) meat — transfer it to a large baking sheet and pop it under the broiler for 5 minutes to crisp up those edges. Remove, toss the pork with some of the remaining juices, then broil and toss again.

And then in less than an hour, this amazing batch of crispy, juicy, ultra-tasty pork carnitas will be yours to enjoy.

Feel free to serve it up in tacos like I did…

…with this simple pineapple salsa that I made (or you can stick with traditional chopped onions and cilantro, to make them “street taco” style).

Or, of course, feel free to use the carnitas however else you’d like — burritos, rice bowls, salads, quesadillas, youuuuu name it. Can’t to go wrong with these guys.

Cheers to fancy new technology making life a little easier…and even more delicious.

Directions:

To Make The Instant Pot Crispy Carnitas:

In a medium mixing bowl, prepare the mojo sauce (see below).

Season pork chunks on all sides with salt and pepper.

Click the “Saute” setting on the Instant Pot. Add oil and half of the pork, and sear — turning every 45-60 seconds or so — until the pork is browned on all sides. Transfer pork to a separate clean plate, and repeat with the other half of the pork, searing until browned on all sides. Press “Cancel” to turn off the heat.

Pour in the mojo sauce, and toss briefly to combine. Close lid securely and set vent to “Sealing”.

Press “Meat”, then press “Pressure” until the light on “High Pressure” lights up, then adjust the up/down arrows until time reads 30 minutes. Cook. Then let the pressure release naturally, about 15 minutes. Carefully turn the vent to “Venting”, just to release any extra pressure that might still be in there. Then remove the lid.

Turn on the oven broiler to High.

Shred the pork with two forks. Then transfer it with a slotted spoon to a large baking sheet. Spoon about a third of the leftover juices evenly on top of the pork. Then broil for 4-5 minutes, or until the edges of the pork begin browning and crisping up. Remove the sheet from the oven, then ladle a remaining third of the juices from the Instant Pot evenly over the pork, and then give it a good toss with some tongs. Broil for an additional 5 minutes to get the meat even more crispy. Then remove and ladle the final third of the juices over the pork, and toss to combine.

Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro, then serve immediately in tacos, burritos, salads, or whatever sounds good to you! Or, refrigerat pork in a sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

I’ve been a huge fan of your carnitas recipes and got my instant pot for Christmas. My boyfriend and I agreed to make tacos one night, but he texted me in a panic that I didnt take the meat out of the freezer and get the crockpot going! I feel like the crockpot is super easy, but having dinner that was DELICIOUS and taken straight from the freezer to the IP was even easier. I sort of threw together a similar mojo style carnitas but thanks for all your great recipes!

I am so happy to see instant pot recipe on your site! I’ve been waiting for it! I just got my pot last week and made chilli! I know it may be a lot of work but I think it would be great if you converted some of your fav recipes to instant pot. It really helps to see how long to put things, which settings, sauté first or not, natural/quick release etc! I’m going to try to make your slow cooker tortilla soup this weekend…adapt yours to someone else’s IP recipe! Keep them coming! Thanks.

Thanks so much for this recipe. I think it will be the first one I make in my InstaPot. I, too, asked for one for my birthday FOUR MONTHS ago and it has sat without being used once! :( So please, please, post lots of pressure cooker recipes because I need help getting into my new appliance!

Hey Ali! How did you know I’m going to cook some carnitas this week? Seriously, they’re on the menu for Thursday. My usual recipe doesn’t have lime, only OJ along with onion, cumin and Jalapeño. I’m going to swap it out for your mojo sauce, because who can resist trying a new recipe for carnitas?

Congratulations on joining the movement. Do you have plans to add Instant Pot timing to those slow cooker recipes? Pretty please?

For your readers cooking for 2 who don’t want a freezer full of leftovers, I’ve found that an inexpensive 1-lb pork blade steak is just perfect. It’s cut from the shoulder, just like pork butt. It’s thinner than pork roast, about 1 inch, but after trimming the meat from the bone, you’ll have the perfect amount of meat for 2, with enough left for someone’s lunch. Because it’s thinner, cook time is 25 minutes with a 10-minute natural release.

I too got the instant pot during that black friday special and was a little skeptical at first but have quickly fallen in love with it. These carnitas look yummy, I’m going to have to try this soon. Please add a special section of instant pot recipes to your blog, I’m constantly searching for new and delicious instant pot recipes.

I think this recipe will be wonderful and I am excited to try it. I don’t have an Instant Pot, so I had to guess what the directions would be without one. I would think that you have many readers without an Instant Pot and we all would have the same problem of how to prepare this recipe without proper directions. Would it be possible to include both sets of dierctions when you share an Instant Pot recipe?

I am in the process of making this right now and after 30 minutes at High Pressure and doing 15 minutes of Natural Release, it wasn’t cooked enough to shred. After reading a few other recipes with double the cooking time, I have put it back into the pressure cooker for 30 more minutes. Hope it’s done by then – but it smells great!

Wonderful! I used pineapple juice because I didn’t have orange juice and tossed some of the crushed pineapple into the mojo sauce! My tough “pork roast” came out perfect! We basted and broiled twice like the instructions indicate and i think this is key to crisping them up and decreasing the liquid! I added a cup of diced mangos to my pineapple salsa (only because the one jalapeno I seeded and diced was SOOOO hot). It all came out delicious and was the first time my family finished a whole pork roast in one meal. I will definitely make this again, thank you for sharing! I only recently got my IP and cannot wait to try more of these recipes!

oh-em-gee. These are incredible! I made another IP carnitas recipe that I thought no one could top, but then I defrosted the other half of the pork shoulder roast I had and gave these a go. I can’t stop thinking about them! The mojo sauce is amazing…I don’t keep beer in my house because I’m more of a wine/hard liquor girl, so I ended up grabbing a 16oz beer (Shock Top) from the local liquor store and doubled the sauce recipe. I also went uber fancy with the OJ and bought the expensive store-squeezed stuff at my local Wegmans. When you crisp these up in the broiler, they are the stuff of dreams. The other recipe was booted and this is now my go-to carnitas recipe! The pineapple salsa is also a must-try! Looking forward to building a rice bowl with these for dinner tonight :)

These are SO. GOOD. I had to come back and let you know how much this recipe is appreciated. I’ve already talked two other people into making it, and my SO’s coworkers started asking for the recipe since he was raving about these carnitas so much. I’ve found a lot of pressure cooker recipes to be bland, and this is a *perfect* blend of flavors. Crisping them with the juice is clutch.Thanks again for this fabulous recipe. It’s definitely an entry into my go-to recipes file.

The mojo sauce is DELICIOUS!Question, my pork turned out pretty dry. I cooked as instructed, but left it on “keep warm” for almost 2 hrs before opening the pot, could this have been the culprit? Side note, I reduced the sauce left after removing the pork and the pork chunks left floating in that sauce after simmering forever, were delicious, so I’m wondering if I should have cooked it longer.?! Thank you for any insight.

Hi! This looks so good! I have a brand new instant pot and am wanting to try it with the pork loin I have in the fridge. I’m wondering if your recipe is calling for a pork shoulder roast or a pork loin roast, which is much leaner. I would hate to use my pork loin roast in the fridge and have it turn out really dry. Typically, pork loin doesn’t shred so easily, or if it does, it’s quite dry. Help me from messing up your recipe! ;)

This recipe is the reason that I love the Instant Pot so much. It’s my “go to” favorite! I can’t add anything that would make this recipe any better! It does take a bit longer to make than the recipe says, but it’s worth the wait!

Outstanding recipe, my family loves it. I use pork shoulder ribs and they come out absolutely amazing. I crisp the edges as recommended but donit three times. Definitely one of my consistent “go-to” recipes.

These were amazing! thank you so much for the wonderful recipe! We weren’t able to make the pineapple salsa, but topped our tacos with cheese and hot sauce and cilantro, superb! Even the kids loved them (ages 8 and 1).

I have made this recipe a hand full of times now!! This is definitely my go to. Quick, easy, cheap, and delicious! If I’m in a hurry I’ll use Just the carnitas for diet prep for the week. Paired with lime juice, Tapatio, and whole grain corn tortillas, I can actually eat these as diet food!!

Hey, I’m Ali!

My favorite thing in the world is spending time around the table with good people and good food. So I created this blog full of simple, speedy, and irresistibly delicious recipes that are perfect for sharing with those you love. ♥ more about me »